Beta-lactam antibiotics, as are well known in the art, include the penicillin and cephalosporin classes of compounds, which have been used extensively for decades for the treatment of bacterial infections. However, certain bacterial strains have developed resistance to some or all of the beta-lactam antibiotics available to the physician. In some cases, this resistance is due to the production by the bacterial strain of an enzyme that degrades the antibiotic by hydrolytic ring opening of the beta-lactam four-membered ring. Such enzymes are termed beta-lactamases.
To counter this mechanism of resistance involving beta-lactamase production by infectious bacterial strains and allow for the continued use of beta-lactam antibiotics, various compounds that inhibit the beta-lactamase enzymes produced by resistant bacteria have been developed. For example, clavulanic acid is a beta-lactamase inhibitor well known in the art, which is used in combination with beta-lactam antibiotics for treatment of infections. An example of a composition including clavulanic acid is Augmentin®.